


Medicine

by Darkhymns



Category: Tales of Symphonia
Genre: Affection, F/M, Guilt, Hurt/Comfort, Mouth-to-Mouth, Sickness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-08
Updated: 2020-11-08
Packaged: 2021-03-09 06:15:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27449995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Darkhymns/pseuds/Darkhymns
Summary: Colette is struck down by her sickness. Lloyd is helpless, but maybe he could still comfort her in the smallest of ways still."Make sure she's drinking enough water," Kratos had told him. Lloyd would follow through.
Relationships: Colette Brunel/Lloyd Irving
Comments: 5
Kudos: 9





	Medicine

**Author's Note:**

> There's no real rhyme or reason to this fic, just yearning through every sentence.

Sickness was not an enemy Lloyd knew how to defeat.

This wasn’t the same as cutting down a monster that threatened him on the way to Iselia, or a Desian that had cornered them on the pathway out of a ranch. Lloyd knew by instinct what he had to do, swords instantly in both hands as he blocked a downward sing from an ax or staff, swiftly parrying away rough claws that would have embedded themselves in his side. With something in front of him, Lloyd could solve whatever problem stood in their way.

He didn’t know what to do when Colette was sick.

“Give me space, Lloyd. _Please,”_ Raine had insisted, as she and Kratos had carried Colette to her room back home. Lloyd had barely seen the glances from both Frank and Phaidra, wondering if that’s what he looked like; pale, scared and lost on what to do.

So he couldn’t just stay downstairs, already rushing up to Colette’s room, with its featherlight drapes across the windows, its star-shaped decorations over the top. Eyes glossed over the bookcase in the corner, filled with text that had made his head spin when he had tried to read out of once, making a younger Colette giggle. He fixated on the present her instead, where her sleeve was torn from her shoulder, exposing glassy crystal.

“Lloyd, did you not hear me?” Raine turned to him, able to muster a deep frown while she relieved any of Colette’s pain with her healing artes. Kratos seemed to do the same, hand ghosting just over that same shoulder. “You’ll just get in the way.”

“I’m not gonna sit back and do nothing while she’s-!” Kratos gripped his arm then, not looking at him, his own focus on Colette.

“Be calm,” he said, and even through all the confusion he still gave Lloyd, somehow, these spare words were enough to calm him down.

“Right… Sorry.”

Lloyd could only watch, and watch, and watch. Colette’s eyes were shut tight, her dress in tatters on one side. There was a dark singe around that tear, and all Lloyd could see was Colette rushing too fast to block that attack, like she once did with him against Kvar.

Each time, she would move so fast, and all Lloyd could do was stand around, helpless. That was all he kept doing. What was wrong with him?

“That should be enough for now…” Raine’s voice shook him out, made him see past to everyone else in the room. “She’s just been in shock, but she still needs to rest. She shouldn’t be disturbed.”

Lloyd nodded, realizing what he needed to do. “Okay.” And with that, he took one of the chairs from the table that stood in the middle of the room, pulled it up to the bed, and sat on it. “I’ll watch over her.”

“…Lloyd, I just said she shouldn’t be disturbed.” He could hear that routine sigh his teacher always had for him. “I can’t have you waking her up every moment.”

“I won’t do that.” Lloyd placed his hands on his knees, fingers curled. Waiting, waiting, it was all he could do when it came to this. “I just said I’ll watch over her.”

“But Lloyd-”

“If she does wake, you should make sure she’s drinking enough water.” Kratos nodded over to the cup of water, alongside a pitcher, that was on the bedstand beside Colette’s bed. “Looks like Frank already prepared it. She might have trouble swallowing after her ordeal.”

Raine was glaring, but Lloyd took on that lifeline Kratos threw him, not even questioning it. There was a time he had been so angry at this mercenary, at this agent of Cruxis, but his worry for Colette outweighed everything. “Yeah! Yeah, I will.”

“Why do I bother…” Though he heard Raine’s unhappy mutters as she left for downstairs with Kratos, though he knew she was just as distrustful of Kratos, Lloyd couldn’t find it in himself to mull over it. Not that. Not when Colette was in front of him; injured, suffering and lost to him.

Lloyd was completely useless when it came to something like this.

It was not the first time, never the first time. Even when they were kids, when Colette would get hit by a cold, Lloyd would worry, wondering when she’d be well enough to come outside again.

Throughout the journey, there had been too much of that.

The room was quiet except for Colette’s breathing. The covers had been pulled up to her neck, her hair stuck to her forehead in a light sheen of sweat. Though she still slept, eyes closed, Lloyd could remember how she looked just before she passed out. He had tried to reach out to her before she collapsed to the ground, begging him to stay away.

He couldn’t remember a time she had ever looked so afraid.

Lloyd shifted on his chair, eyes still on her, though occasionally glancing over to the carpet laid out underneath his shoes, hearing the noises from downstairs. Everyone was worried. Maybe someone would be better in his place instead, but he didn’t want to leave.

Hands moved from his knees to clasp against each other, squeezing tight. His Exsphere felt warm, sort of electric, but he could hardly think as to why. “Colette… I wish you could have told me,” he said. The words carved through his throat, remembering once more the expression on her face. “I just want you to trust me-”

He heard her cough.

“Colette!” Lloyd stood up, chair scraping harshly against the floor. Colette’s face was half-hidden in the bed covers, as if she had retreated more underneath it… Trying to calm himself, Lloyd reached out to her, one hand gently pressing against her head. “Hey… It’s me. Are you…?”

“Nn…” Colette shifted, kept her eyes shut, but didn’t move away from him. But she looked pale, she looked lost.

Wait, the water. Right! Kratos had told him… Lloyd let her go, but only so he could get the cup of water already there. Colette’s head was laid flat on the pillow, but with careful precision that he rarely did with anything except when crafting, when shaping, when creating, Lloyd slid his hand around the back of her head to lift her up.

Colette went with him, but she kept her eyes shut. She still wouldn’t look at him, even as soft sounds left her.

“Here, you need water,” he said, holding the cup near her lips. He could only tilt it just a bit, so that it wouldn’t spill. “I got you.” He said that with more confidence then he felt, but he had to still say it…

Though she went with his motions, though she wouldn’t refuse the drink… She wouldn’t take it. Colette’s lips stayed firm. “Mn…don’t…”

“Colette?” Lloyd felt helpless again, tempted to try and tilt the cup more against her mouth, but that would just dump the water on her. Even he wasn’t that stupid to go and do that. “Does it hurt to drink?”

And then she shook her head. Her hair fell back against the pillow as she did so, showing off just a gleam of the necklace she wore – his necklace. “Don’t…”

He didn’t understand it at all. “Don’t what? You still need to drink…” And as he said the words, the echo of them came back to him, like a strange recording, covered over with dust. _You still need to eat._

She wouldn’t tell him then either.

“Look…don’t…It’s okay…” she whispered, sounding so far away.

Back then, he had to get the truth out of Colette, through a trick that he still felt guilty over. But so many times would she keep something hidden that was hurting her, like the time she had stepped on a sharp branch that bit into her boot, biting away the pain until he noticed her limping. Like the time she cut her palm from a broken pot that she had knocked over once visiting him, too ashamed to let him know, even when he told her that same pot was just junk he had made and that her injury was far more important…

Sometimes he caught the sadness in her eyes before the journey, not understanding why. She had never meant to tell him. But now she was shivering in his arms, refusing to take anything that would help her – like always.

_Don’t say you’re okay,_ he thought, once again feeling helpless and stupid and wrong. _Not when you’re like this in front of me._

But he didn’t say that. He still cradled her head, saw the sadness in her face that she couldn’t hide away. Her lips were dry. Kratos had told him how important it was that she had water…

Lloyd had a really stupid idea then, but he was desperate.

Maybe he should have just called for Raine, or Kratos, or anyone really. Maybe he should have just waited until Colette relaxed more. But instead, Lloyd looked at the cup he held, full of fresh water that Frank must have gotten from the nearby well.

More impulsive than ever, Lloyd took a big sip from the cup. The water was fresh and cool on his tongue. He had to be careful not to swallow it already.

Blinking once, then twice, Lloyd then leaned in, pressing his lips against hers.

Soft and cool. One hand grasped her chin to hold her steady, gently. He had to open his mouth just enough to let the water pass through to her.

Colette shifted. He heard the softness in her throat, but she didn’t pull away.

Lloyd, pulled by worry, rushing with anxiousness that he couldn’t sit still, barely questioned what he did. Some of the water might have spilled between their lips, to slid down Colette’s chin, but most of what he held in his mouth went to hers.

Colette’s eyes fluttered open, just for a moment, before closing them again. “..hn…”

“I’m still here…” he said, wondering if maybe she just couldn’t see him? Maybe she was stuck in a dream. But her lips didn’t look as dry now, and a bit of color was on her cheeks. The water was working!

So why wouldn’t he try it again?

Lloyd finished the cup with another sip, then leaned in again, mouth against mouth. She seemed to already open hers at the contact, as if expecting it. The water rushed through again, and he felt her take it, along with her warmth.

He let go for the second time, but didn’t pull too far away. He searched her face to see if she looked any healthier, any less pale. He still held her face close. “Colette?”

She opened her eyes finally, half-lidded, but bright enough to show that she saw him. “Lloyd?” she breathed, warm against his lips. He grinned.

“You feeling any better now?” he asked. The fear that had burrowed in his chest started to flit away at the sight of her. She was still with him, despite whatever crystal sickness was trying to take her.

She smiled, both hands reaching for his own, fingers light against his knuckles. “Lloyd…I'm…happy but…how come…?”

He didn’t get it at first, tilting his head in confusion. “What do you mean? I was just giving you…”

Oh.

Colette’s face was still near his, her lips parted, breath moving just a bit fast. The thought of wanting to kiss her again came to him, and that was when he realized. He had been kissing her. Or, he hadn’t meant to? But she wouldn’t drink, and Kratos had said she needed to have water, and if she wasn’t taking it, Lloyd had to think of another way to do it…

It just seemed right at the time. Less chance to make a mess, that he wouldn’t hurt her mouth like he might with the cup. “I…” he started to say, feeling his face heat up, remembering the way her mouth moved against his. “Sorry, I just…”

_I wanted to help you,_ he had been about to say before Colette leaned in, softly taking his lips. Eyes moved shut, the heat of her enveloping all around him.

“It’s…good medicine,” she said with a giggle, pressing her forehead against his. The shine in her eyes was bright. The sickness forgotten, even for just a moment. “Really.”


End file.
